Will Haynes a rising young media star in Richmond. He is posting short, snappy commentaries about his community on YouTube and working through OurStateofHealth.org to gain a wider audience. Check out his latest below on the reason he intends to give what he can to the needy during this holiday season and beyond.

Community clinics are facing increased caseloads due to the recession and the coming expansion of access under the federal health reform law. But many operate on a shoestring, struggling to serve clients in a stressful environment. One way they can cope is through collaboration, and many do as part of an online community known as the Community Clinic Voice. The public can listen in, too. Sue Dormanen contributed this article about the community.

If you live in Shasta County, you're more likely to die than people in 57 of California's 58 counties, even after adjusting for age. The Healthy Shasta collaborative is trying to change that. An initiative of health experts and local leaders willing to incorporate healthy lifestyle changes into their own policies and working environments, the collaborative offers options like free health club memberships, on-campus bicycles and healthy food vending machines to their employees, students and customers. And one of the collaborative's projects is focusing intently on child obesity and the schools. Margaret T. Simpson has the story.

The San Diego Unified School District, which spans affluent coastal communities and troubled inner-city neighborhoods alike, faces a $142 million deficit next school year. With the recent failure of Proposition J, a tax measure that would have helped bridged that gap, district officials are looking for places to make deep cuts. Laying off counseling staff and teachers, asking schools to share principals, and compounding magnet complexes into comprehensive schools are among the suggestions. This, coupled with state cuts to mental health services in schools, has students and teachers at the Crawford Educational Complex in City Heights worried their funding will be slashed in ways that ignore the special needs of the many refugee and immigrant students in the community. Robert Knauf and Megan Burks tell the story in this video report from City Heights.

It’s the season for cold damp weather. As the rains fall and chilly nights become more common, local elementary schools and the work place seem to quietly breed the first of the year’s sniffles and common colds.
Fortunately, Mother Nature blesses us at this time of year with the perfect natural remedy. Within a few weeks time mandarin orange trees will have ripened fruit that provides relief to those who suffer from a head cold and runny nose. A recent study by the U. S. Department of Agriculture titled Synephrine Content of Juice from Satsuma Mandarins confirms that Placer County’s popular Owari Satsuma mandarins pack a big jolt of synephrine, a natural decongestant that relieves common cold and allergy symptoms. Joanne Neft has the story.

La Mesa, with a population of nearly 60,000, sits on a series of hills just east of San Diego. Its scenic character masks health statistics that are the worst in San Diego County, with 40 percent of the adult population overweight and an additional 23 percent considered obese. The area also has the highest rates of adult diabetes and heart disease. But now the city has written a strategic wellness plan that engages schools, health providers, businesses and faith communities in an ongoing effort to create the healthiest city in the region. Margaret Simpson has the story.

We need to address our medical students as paladins, and not as squires. We must show them that their patients and circles will view them as leaders, regardless of their self-assessment. And, we must impart to them that leadership is not a burden, but a legacy to be forged. We will choose our students for this trek based not primarily on test scores or letters of recommendations. Rather, we will seek those who demand challenges, shatter comfort zones, and stoke their passions by the advancement and of others.

Salinas Valley, widely known as the "Salad Bowl of the World," is an agricultural community with diverse residents and a rich history. The City of Salinas, the center of said "Salad Bowl," is the largest city in the Salinas Valley and the county, with close to 150,000 residents living in its incorporated area. When I was growing up in the Salinas Valley, my family would make weekly trips up to Salinas for entertainment, to buy groceries and visit extended family, which was a treat for me, since King City was a small town with very few things to do. Since then, Salinas has been a central part of my life, be it living in the community or participating in community events. Gabriela López Chávez profiles the community, via Our State of Health.

For more than a year, a debate has been brewing in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood around affordable housing. The debate centers on one intersection but represents a much larger issue: is there such a thing as too much affordable housing in one community? Paul S. Towers explores the issue.

Three Stanford Medical School students have helped organize a local effort to offer flu vaccinations at two polling places in Santa Clara County Tuesday. Jessica W. Tsai, one of the organizers, explains why they got involved and how the clinics will work in this blog post.